Mantle's rarest card?
 

Posted By: <b>Bruce Babcock</b><p>Mantle is probably the highest demand player in the second half of the 20th century. Even thought the supply of his Topps cards is plentiful demand keeps the prices high. But are all Mantle issues truly rare?<br /><br />Cobb, Wagner and Ruth all have a high demand which keeps their mainstream card prices high but each also has some issues of true rarity.<br /><br />Can the same be said of Mantle?

Mantle's rarest card?
 

Posted By: <b>Dave Hornish</b><p>61 Topps Dice Game, 67 Topps Giants Stand Ups, 68 Topps Disc would all be good candidates. The 68 Topps Plak (not the checklist which pops up on occasion) is not a card but is fiendishly difficult and the 63 Topps premium Mask is also a tough "Non-card." I'd go Dice Game as the rarest, likely only 2 exist.

Mantle's rarest card?
 

Posted By: <b>larry</b><p>1967 stand ups thick version issued in packs probably around 10 in existence<br />THIS IS THE RAREST ACTUALLY ISSUED BY TOPPS FOR SALE<br />and also issued for sale by topps opc division...amazingly i have only seen 1 opc 1960 topps mantle tatoo ever...I need that one so if you have let me know<br /><br />1961 topps dice game not for sale by topps I know of 4 ....1 without staple holes 1 with staple hole from topps files, 1 cut from sheet outside the factory and 1 still on a sheet...larry fritsch collection<br />1968 discs not for sale by topps Ive only seen 1 in complete proof...name team position all colors etc<br />there are probably more out there but one has not appeared for sale <br />BUT THE TRUE KING IS THE 1966 DOUBLE PUNCHOUT MANTLE/HART<br />IM BETTING ONLY 1 EXISTS<br /><br />NON CARDS THE 68 PLAK...IVE SEEN 5 TRIPLE PLAKS<br /> THE 63 MASK...IVE SEEN 3 AND 2 WERE IN POOR CONDITION<br />any further info appreciated

Mantle's rarest card?
 

Posted By: <b>Dave Hornish</b><p>Yup, I forgot the 66 Punchout. You're right, it's likely the king!

Mantle's rarest card?
 

Posted By: <b>Dave Hornish</b><p>Yup, I forgot the 66 Punchout. You're right, it's likely the king!

Mantle's rarest card?
 

Posted By: <b>Ted Zanidakis</b><p>Normally, no one would ever say a 1969 Topps Mantle is a rare card....although, I ask this question....has any else have,<br /> or have seen a 1969 Mantle with this deep blue background color ?<br /><br />I acquired this card 24 years ago at a small BB card shop....it's obviously a color printing "freak"....but, is it also unique ? .<br /><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.freephotoserver.com/v001/tedzan/a1969tbluemantle.jpg"><br /><br /><br />TED Z

Mantle's rarest card?
 

Posted By: <b>Frank Evanov</b><p>Here's a tough one:<br /><br /><img src="http://images1.collectors.com/psa/set_registry/m514804/68TMMSticker.jpg"><br><br>Frank

Mantle's rarest card?
 

Posted By: <b>larry</b><p>thats nice but its just detached from a triple panel<br />obviously the triple panel is much tougher<br />there are 100s of these available

Mantle's rarest card?
 

Posted By: <b>Eric</b><p>.

Mantle's rarest card?
 

Posted By: <b>Al</b><p>Looks good anyway to me Frank.

Mantle's rarest card?
 

Posted By: <b>larry</b><p>it is nice...just not rare

Mantle's rarest card?
 

Posted By: <b>Frank Evanov</b><p>Well, I've been collecting Mickey for years and I haven't seen another of these. PSA has only graded 2 of them. I'm not sure where I can find "100's" of these. Maybe I'm not looking in the right places?<br><br>Frank

Mantle's rarest card?
 

Posted By: <b>Red</b><p>More could be sent in but collectors probably don't want to rip them in thirds.

Mantle's rarest card?
 

Posted By: <b>Josh</b><p>I agree that Mantle's rarest card known to exist is the 1966 Punch-out. I do not believe duplicates of any of those cards exist.<br /><br />Aside from cards issued (or never actually issued) as test issues that were never really produced on any sort of large scale, for cards issued on a larger scale, Mantle's rarest cards are his early Venezuelan's. 1959 & 1960 especially are extremely rare cards.<br /><br /><img src="http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj262/josh48067/59venezuelanmantle4.jpg"> <img src="http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj262/josh48067/60venezuelanmantlepsa.jpg">

Mantle's rarest card?
 

Posted By: <b>dennis</b><p>josh could you post scans of the backs of those if possible?

Mantle's rarest card?
 

Posted By: <b>Josh</b><p>Here's the '59. I don't have the 1960 back scanned and the card is in my safe deposit box, but the back appears identical to the US Topps issued 1960 card... the differences are very subtle. The card stock is a slightly different texture, and the front of the card has significantly less gloss than the US version.<br /><br /><img src="http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj262/josh48067/59venezuelanmantleback.jpg"><br /><br />The 59 Venezuelan Mantle back is quite mysterious. They all have that same spot of paper loss, and the ink is always printed very lightly towards the bottom left corner especially (when viewing the card as pictured). I have never seen an example that is different and I have seen the backs of 4 total examples.<br /><br />Josh<br />

Mantle's rarest card?
 

Posted By: <b>dennis</b><p>thanks, i wonder if anyone has gone to venezuela and searched for old topps cards??

Mantle's rarest card?
 

Posted By: <b>Josh</b><p>Josh Evans from Leland's was the most recent to do it, and he came back with a mixed bag, mostly low-grade stuff, and almost nothing from 1959 & 1960.<br /><br />What I've heard from multiple people who collected them while living in Caracas during the 80's is that for every 1 clean card found, there would be 20-30 others that were badly damaged.<br /><br />Venezuela today is just too unsafe, and most of the good cards are either already in the US or in private collections in Venezuela.

Mantle's rarest card?
 

Posted By: <b>Dave Hornish</b><p>The 68 Action All Star Stickers are not all that hard to find, even in strips. I see 2 or 3 full strip sets a year up for auction and there are singles, both strip and panel form, appearing with some regularity on Ebay. Odd sized cards/stickers are tough to display and it keeps prices down. The HOF'ers are always popular. These must have had fairly good, albeit local, distribution.

Mantle's rarest card?
 

Posted By: <b>larry</b><p><img src="http://www.network54.com/Realm/tmp/1202341503.JPG"> <img src="http://www.network54.com/Realm/tmp/1202341559.JPG"> &lt;img

Mantle's rarest card?
 

Posted By: <b>larry</b><p><img src="http://www.network54.com/Realm/tmp/1202341918.JPG">

Mantle's rarest card?
 

Posted By: <b>Bruce Babcock</b><p>Do any of the values for these tough Mantle cards even approach the value of his 1952 Topps card?

Mantle's rarest card?
 

Posted By: <b>larry</b><p>the last dice game that sold went for $35000 and that was the one cut from a sheet outside the factory<br />so not graded just marked authentic<br />52 mantles are quite common but they have a large following of collectors<br />mantle collectors, '52 collectors, 500 hr collectors set collectors yankee collectors etc

Mantle's rarest card?
 

Posted By: <b>Dave Hornish</b><p>A couple of years ago an EXish Dice Game Leon Wagner sold for just over $4K on Ebay. A Mantle in probably lesser condition sold for about $22K around the same time if I remember correctly. A true NM Mantle Dice Game would likely be worth $50K or so I would think.